The editorial is the opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Eastern News.

Don’t look now, Eastern, but April’s right around the corner. The euphoric anarchy (or relaxing bliss) of Spring Break is behind us and the frantic game of catching up on term papers and cramming for finals looms ahead.

Every year about this time people look around, and at each other, and make a comment along the lines of, “I can’t believe this year went by so fast.” They try to remember what they did and how they felt in August, which seems like it took place in another lifetime.

Most of us started looking ahead to Spring Break in December, because there are so many things to do to prepare for the one-week highlight of the school year: getting plane tickets and hotel reservations, saving spending money, buying appropriate clothing, tanning, etc. For two-and-a-half months we focus on this one seven-day period, and then it’s gone.

It leaves a somewhat empty feeling, and that, coupled with the anxiety of finishing off the semester strongly, is bound to have all of us a little jittery. It’s understandable, but try and look at things a little differently this spring.

Think of these final six weeks as the homestretch of a race. Runners, when they round that last turn and see the finish line dead ahead, get a little extra juice and redouble their efforts to cross that line strongly. We might be better off if we do the same.

The usual behavior is to start putting in six-hour study sessions fueled by jet-black coffee to read half a textbook in one night or knock out 10 pages of that 15-page thesis because the due dates are rushing at us. Subconsciously, we figure that we had these seven or eight days filled with alcohol, parties and other hedonistic activity and now we have to make up for lost time.

Don’t think of finals and overdue essays and unstarted projects – think of your home and family, summer nights, and, for seniors, leaving your school days behind you forever. The first 22 weeks of the year cruised by, and these next six will as well, believe it or not.

If we can look three months ahead to a one-week escape, we can certainly look six weeks ahead to a three-month vacation.

So relax, take a deep breath, and stop panicking. It’ll be summer before you know it, and pretty soon you’ll be longing to come back to the hectic, exhilarating pace of college.